Gives Me Hope
by foxtrotelly
Summary: About the life of a granddaughter and the things that give her hope.


So here I am, writing something that's long overdue for someone again. But anyway, as implied by the title, this was obviously inspired by some entries in the sites and . Oh, and heads up-cred to my Imouto-chan, _I've Perfected Imperfection_, for writing about GMH first. So I guess this one's partially dedicated to her as well. :)

_OCs + OC pairings coming your way. You've been warned. Otherwise close this flippin' window and go outside and ride a bike or something because I most certainly can't._

**Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice copyright © Tachibana Higuchi, 2003-Present**

* * *

**Gives Me Hope**

_**By foxtrotelly**_

_~ Dedicated to Irrevocable Truth ~_

_Like I said, this really is long overdue and I hope you understand that I didn't forget about this being for you after all this time. Keep on being awesome! _

_**:)**_

I already knew I was a goner as soon as the clock struck three and school bells rang in time and those doors opened to let us out. From around me the foliage blurred in a mix of greens, pale fleshes, browns and some random flashes of blue and red — whatever most of the students were wearing today. Soon enough the traces of bright color faded until eventually only the green and brown remained in the zooming scenery that rushed by as I sped off on my bicycle.

_Good._

Looking behind me, I saw the unmistakable figure of our massive high school at about the measure of my thumb. It grew smaller and smaller, and like the people, disappeared along the growing countryside as well. Out of sight, out of mind anyway, like what my grandfather used to tell me. And when you can finally get your mind off the hellhole that claimed at least eight months of your life every year, it's guaranteed a liberating feeling.

But there was just too much to think about today.

—

"They're at their room, Keiko-chan."

"Thanks Grace," I thanked the home's friendly middle-aged receptionist. Surreptitiously, I sneaked a glance around me then when assured that no one around would get suspicious, leaned forward to whisper something in Grace's ear.

"_They_ were on sale and…I can say _Ojii-chan'_s just a bit bored so —"

Grace nodded, smiling. "Code 37 in the paperbag, got it." Then she winked and said, "But don't forget: _Tiny bites_."

I smiled back and thanked her again before leaving with my package. In no time at all, I reached my grandparents room. I knocked twice.

"Hey kiddo."

I greeted him back, a beam on my face. "Heyo _'jii-chan_." Walking over to my grandmother, I stroked her hair gently and murmured, "Hi _obaa-chan_."

My grandmother didn't reply nor budge. I knew she couldn't.

My grandfather made his way from the window to where we were and sat down beside my grandmother. Doing the same, I grabbed a nearby stool and took a seat as well.

"Hand me that brush, will you?" _ojii-chan_ said.

I handed him the brush from behind me then watched as he proceeded to carefully comb my grandmother's hair. Her hair was long and brown, streaked with gray and as the brush stroked through it, it grew even shinier than it already was.

My grandfather's voice brought me out of my fascination. "So how was the hellhole that claims at least eight months of your life every year today?"

I had to smile. My grandfather knew me too well.

"Oh you know" —I shrugged— "same old, same old. Prissy cheerleaders. Pretentious wannabes. Evil Math teachers. A-class—"

"—Douchebags, yeah," _ojii-chan_ finished for me. "Horrendous cafeteria food. Long lines at the girl's room and…" He trailed off and looked at me expectantly.

I swallowed and rubbed my nape. "Oh you know, nothing much really. Just the, _uhh_, usual."

"Hmm." My grandfather stopped brushing my grandmother's hair and suddenly reached over to rub his finger at a ketchup stain on my sweatshirt's sleeve. "Bad day at the caf again?"

I didn't think he would notice but I just slumped my shoulders and sighed. "Yeah, and Ayu was sick at home with the flu. So I ate alone…"

"And got tripped," my grandfather said. I knew he was avoiding the word _again_ again so he wouldn't hurt my feelings.

"No need for the sympathy, _'jii-chan_," I muttered, closing my eyes.

He chuckled. "So what's the verdict?"

"_Mhmm_…" I sat up straighter then took on an advertiser's tone: "Thanks to _Kirin_ juice my hair is now ten times as shiny and sticky!"

My grandfather stroked my hair. "I think it brings out the red in your hair just perfectly."

I tried to hide the fact that I was flattered. Heck I didn't even know if _ojii-chan_ was complimenting me but I still rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah and I won't be surprised when the kids at school finally start calling me a ginger."

He scoffed. "As if _I _haven't been accused of being albino at least once in my life."

When I thought about it, I did remember the time when our Science teacher back in the fourth grade told us about how albinos had pale skin and red eyes and how I had asked my grandfather if he was one afterwards. Then there was even a time way before that when I got a hold of a copy of _Twilight_ from my babysitter I was fully convinced he was a vampire for weeks but that's another story. Point is, I was perfectly aware that he wasn't only making me laugh. He was also making me feel better.

Both worked. This was why I _freaking _loved my grandfather.

"So what's in the bag?" he asked me just as I was about to round up my last fit of laughter.

"Oh you know," I said casually, putting on my best coy face, "prune juice, denture replacements, corrective eyeglasses, a hearing aid. The works."

"You shouldn't have."

Laughing again, I chucked the paperbag—with the latest issues of five of my _ojii-chan_'s favorite mangas, a box of howalons and an iPod recently filled with at least a hundred currently released Beatle covers and the newest album of this indie band he just had to hear—at him. He caught it in a swift movement impressive for his age.

He peeked inside then looked up at me again, smirking contentedly. "You're the worst."

This was just why I _really_ freaking loved my grandfather _so much_.

* * *

Growing up, I considered my grandfather to be a lot of things. He was my mother's father and my grandmother's husband. He was the guy who taught me how to wolf whistle at nine and the only one who could cook my favorite _nabemono sukiyaki _(mainly because that was the only thing he _can_ cook). He had always taken me out to the park then for ice cream afterwards, occasionally with my grandmother, every weekend and pointed out the all best trees around our town to hangout in by the time I was twelve. Most of all, he wasn't only my hero but also my best friend.

Don't get me wrong though, God knows I love Mayagi Ayu. To clarify things, my grandfather was obviously my _senior_ best friend.

Here's how that worked: If Ayu was the one I'd laugh at the next brainless cheerleader with, my _ojii-chan_ would tell me one stole his water bottle back in junior high. If I cracked a funny joke Ayu would laugh while my grandfather would twist that joke around and have me be the one who'd end up in stitches in the end.

I was already sure I wouldn't survive school or life for that matter without Ayu just as much as I was certain that grandfather was the one who taught me to live. In a nutshell, they both kept me alive.

And even without me in the picture, those two made the most dynamic duo of their own. It was only natural, with Ayu being the granddaughter of both of my grandparents' best friends and all. Life just really fell into place like that for us sometimes. Go figure.

That's how we all ended up in this small get-together for Ruka-_jii_'s birthday at the nursing home that Friday night which I had already begged Grace to have her supervisor allow beforehand. Attendance was complete with Ayu's grandparents, Ruka-jiiand Hotaru-baa, her parents, Ryumi-ji and Yui-ba, Ayu's little brother Dai-chan, as well as my own parents and grandparents. Ayu was there too and while we sat together immersed in our own world, puncturing at the adults' conversations with a few of our own and deciding which next douchebag pick-up lines would make it to our book, Dai-chan, just recently silent, interjected out of the blue in the middle of swirling around his _soba_:

"I asked Hana-chan out to the spring dance today."

The sound of two pairs of chopsticks clanging on bowls rang across the suddenly quiet table.

"Because I saw a boy ask _onee-chan_ out yesterday," he continued, training his innocent, doe-like eyes on his sister. They gleamed violet just like his sister's, except they really _were_ innocent.

Ayu nearly fell off her chair just in time for me to be able to catch her, and with that seven other pairs of eyes zeroed in on her as well.

"What's this about, hun?" Yui-ji asked, her face mildly curious. She spared a look at my mother. After all, it wasn't every day when their daughters even came willingly within a five-foot radius of any boy that wasn't related to them. It was because we weren't the type to go talk about and swoon over one of them anytime soon when in fact we were really just the geeky chicks who liked to watch complete season DVDs of _How I Met Your Mother_ and eat cup noodles and binge on a lot of chocolate and watch videos of other people on the internet chilling at home just like us on any free Saturday night.

But when I heard what I knew I just heard from my best friend's little brother, I didn't take any time to wonder as to how it happened. What with caramel-colored hair that cascaded perfectly down her back, mysterious grayish-purple eyes that seemed to look into your soul, naturally pink cheeks and this whole sign on her person that screamed, _I INHERITED MY FAMILY'S PRETTY GENES._ And even if she wasn't trying, that sign still continued to flash buoyantly despite the striped tights and oversized sweaters she wore everyday.

Then there was me, her plain and boring best friend who had "clouds", as I called them, of ginger hair that tumbled lifelessly just directly below my shoulders because they were that lifeless, ordinary brown eyes that didn't look anywhere near vibrant as my grandmother's, freckles on a paler than pale complexion and a _THIS GIRL IS A LOSER_ arrow that just seemed to hover over my head and followed me everywhere I went. Ayu would say I wasn't one but I knew the large corrective frames and doodled-on chucks proved her wrong.

"So, Ayu-chan, do you think your lover boy has a best friend that could get together with Keiko?" my dad suddenly asked.

"Dad!"

Ayu colored and meekly replied, "Well you see, Yuto-ji, I haven't really said yes to him but I'm sure that any guy in his right mind out there would gladly —"

"_Ayu!"_

"And wouldn't it be so great, Yuto?" Ayu's dad called my dad from across the table, "if our daughters went on a double date on the dance and —"

"_Well seriously guys!_" My voice was shrill, and not to my surprise, high. Every adult at the table—except for _ojii-chan, _Hotaru-baa and of course _obaa-san_—fell silent just as fast as they had erupted into excited chattering and planning. I knew better than to stick around right now because my instincts told me my mother was just about to make a comment about dresses already and I didn't really want to disturb the two elderly men playing Scrabble beside our table anymore let alone break the nearest glass of water with my_ an-octave-higher-by-the-minute_ shrieks.

In my defense I didn't need anyone to bother me about the stupid dance because the yearbook committee already recruited me to take pictures on that day because they all said I was the kid with "the fancy camera". So I did what I did best.

"May I be excused to the bathroom? Thanks," I said as I already stood from the table, a cheek-hurting smile plastered on my face.

My eye twitched involuntary when my grandfather was the one who excused me with the ever-so slight amused look in his eyes to which I countered with my best glare permitted in the given circumstances.

Well at least I _thought _it was a glare. Because my _ojii-chan_ looked like he was already trying hard to not burst into laughter as I stalked away darkly towards the restrooms.

And don't get me wrong or anything though when I say I was being a good friend to Ayu. There were two main reasons as to why I did what I just did: 1) teenage daughters' presence minus my presence equals reduced pressure and embarrassment at the table and 2) holding it in wasn't healthy and I really _did_ drink a lot grape juice before dinner started.

Just as I was rounding a corner when out of nowhere I bumped into somebody, knocking my glasses off my face and onto the floor.

"Crap," I muttered under my breath. I quickly got down on my knees to blindly grope around for my glasses. There was still a blur of flesh and something that I made out to be plaid in front of me, so I assumed it must've been the person I just bumped into. Then all of a sudden our hands met, as cliché as that sounded, and one second later my hand impulsively balked. And no I didn't feel my face heat up or my heart race or anything. Like I said it _only _sounded cliché.

"Sorry," we both said at the same time.

I stopped for a moment.

"I'm just looking for my glasses," we said in unison again. This time I really did feel a bit of warmth creep up on my face as we felt around for our glasses together on the floor, but I wasn't sure why.

"Hey, when one of us finds their glasses first, that person'll help out the other too, ok?" he said, his tone already friendly.

I couldn't help but smile at that. "Sure."

They were clamped together when I found them in no time at all. I handed him one of them and put a pair on myself.

I was never really into boys. On occasion I'd notice some but not for long. That's why when I felt myself hold my breath for a moment when the guy finally swam into my cleared vision, I thought it'd be one of _those_ times.

Behind large corrective frames identical to my own were clear green eyes lined by a fringe of thick lashes. Ash brown hair topped his head in unkept waves and swept his forehead lightly, therefore bringing out the green in his eyes even more. He had a cute little button nose, and if I was sure, a faint of sprinkle of freckles like mine.

"Hey thanks," he said. He gave me a beam to reveal a set of braces over pearly whites that didn't look like they needed them.

I hoped I wasn't or at least didn't look too dazzled. I mean _really._ "Uh, sure."

John Green was what I read from the book I saw him holding as he walked away.

Nice.

—

Everybody at the table was laughing by the time I came back — even Hotaru-baa who was chuckling demurely and my grandfather who was giving out the tiniest of laughs like it was the best he could do.

"And you know what he said to me? 'Hey Keiko won't really bite my head off if I ask her out right? I mean, I just find her really cute and all'," Ayu narrated and then burst into another fit of giggles yet again.

_Bite my head off… Really cute… Keiko…_

What.

Ayu sensed that I was standing directly behind her so she turned her head towards me and held my hand. She swung it playfully as she explained, "Oh you know, he's just some guy who apparently ran away as soon as you approached us the other day. Remember Takumi?"

Oh I remember Takumi, alright. He's this jerk from the soccer team. He was the guy snatched my books from me just so I could chase after him for them. He left them inside the boys' locker room. Of course I remembered him.

Everyone was already laughing again before I realized what was just going on in my mind went out through my mouth.

I looked across the table at my grandparents. My grandfather was tucking a loose strand of my grandmother's hair behind her ear as he laughed along quietly. My grandmother's eyes were fixed on me all the while. They looked blank, but her forever bright hazel eyes always made you think twice. Once or twice they twinkled and glittered when the light caught them, and that along with a little tugging along her lips which the doctors believed to be random nerve impulses but I didn't, made me almost swear she was laughing with all of us too.

* * *

"Mum have you seen the lens cleaner?"

"I think we ran out of those already. Just use toothpaste for now, Keiko!" my mom called out from the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes amusedly. You just had to love my mother and her effective housekeeping skills.

Then as I was hosing down my sudsy glasses I felt an unfamiliar scratch in one of the legs of my glasses. I couldn't really read it without having to wear my eyeglasses, which obviously proved to be impossible. So I ran my fingers through the scratch and made the words _Y. Shimizu _out.

Weird, I mused to myself. I didn't remember etching this into my glasses or being named Y. Shimizu-whatever for that matter.

Unless…I accidentally switched glasses with that guy from the nursing home and…

Well looks like I'd be boy-hunting today.

—

The air picked up again, cold with the early spring breeze. I got off my bike in the bicycle lot beside school just as Ayu pulled over beside me in her scooter.

Now was probably the best time to tell her. Sooner was better than later after all. "Hey listen…I need to go look for a boy today."

Ayu choked on her hot cocoa just as she was taking her first sip from her tumbler. "_You what?_"

I shrugged. "Well last Friday night I bumped into this guy and — "

"Oh don't do this to me."

"Let me finish," I hissed. Ayu crossed her arms. "And when I bumped into him I dropped my glasses, and so did he. So now…" I took off my glasses and handed them to Ayu.

"I have Y. Shimizu-kun's glasses."

—

The very first place I thought of where Shimizu-kun could've been was the nursing home. But considering that it was twelve-thirty in the afternoon right now and I was in the middle of my lunch break, I had stakes on the slightest chance that the guy was in my school out of the five other high schools in our town.

Ayu didn't come with me when I went off looking for him for mainly two reasons: 1) she had a club meeting and 2) because _"feeling guilty for seeing through another dude's 'extra pair of eyes'" _was a reason fruity enough to _not _be plausible. That was just like Ayu, anyway, and I didn't take any of it personally. To be honest I adored that part of her because my grandfather used to always say that was something else she inherited from her grandmother. Then I'd laugh because I would remember the days when my grandmother was still well enough to tell me stories of how my _ojii-chan_ and her _obaa-chan_ were always at each other's throats when they were kids and how we were just like them back then. In addition to that my mother would always say I inherited my grandfather's undisputed charm.

_And his fierceness_, my father would add, wincing.

The library was my first resort, but who could blame me for concluding that a perceived bookish person would spend his free time in there.

_Maybe_.

Then I proceeded to the caf. Then the Home Economics lab. Then the Science lab.

But who was I kidding? I was immediately stereotyping him as a nerd, and that wasn't very fair. So I dug in deeper.

He wasn't in the gym and tennis and badminton court. Nor was he in the swimming pool. Or the football field, for that matter. And I didn't even need _nor _want to go check the soccer area.

That left the track oval, but then again why was I stupid enough to believe that he'd actually be here in our school. I mean, there was a better boys' school just some blocks away and he looked pretty well off to me.

Cute too.

"Shut up," I unconsciously told myself. "He was just a guy you stared at for a good ten seconds too long."

Convinced but with just the smallest bit of regret, I gave up. But before I could turn back and have some ramen at the cafeteria, I already found myself at the oval. The people there all looked at me weirdly like I didn't belong there. Well, I really didn't, but I wasn't a stranger to the place either considering the good number of mornings I spent here with Ayu sipping hot cocoa from our tumblers and reading a book each. Then again if you suddenly showed up in the middle of a running field looking lost, you wouldn't have to wonder why the kids gave you the _this-kid-is-really-odd_ eye.

And then I suddenly saw him.

If I certain it was him, he was running with the other members of the track team. _In _a magenta hoodie and canary yellow shorts.

Cool.

"_Get out of the way!_"

"Wha — Geez hey I'm sorry." But Furugawa Samuru, the track team club president was already pulling me by my shirt out of the oval and their way.

He stared down at me meanly. "I think you missed the organic-freaks club, Suzuki-san. I'm afraid they're at the greenhouse, growing we — "

"Hey, you're that girl right?"

I looked around to realize that he, _the_ Y. Shimizu-kun, was actually talking to _me_.

He didn't have _my _glasses on, and I so I figured he was wearing contacts that only made his eyes even brighter.

On the spur of the moment, I blurted out, "I have your glasses."

His face lit up. "Oh! Me too!" He sprinted off toward the bleachers and in a second was already back with my glasses.

Then he stepped forward, and to my surprise took off his glasses and replaced mine on for me. My face heated up again, but was it just me?

"There you go," he chirped. "Wouldn't want you to poke any one of your eyes out, you know?"

I had to laugh. But all that came out was a nervous little chuckle. "Haha, thanks."

"The name's Shimizu Yukito by the way," he introduced himself, holding out his hand to me. I took and shook it back.

"I'm Suzuki Keiko." I smiled. He smiled back.

"Well I gotta get going now," he said. "Thanks for returning my glasses!"

But before he can jog off, I pointed out, "Jogging in a magenta hoodie and yellow shorts? Really?"

He shrugged. "I'm a big _Juno_ fan. Michael Cera's my hero," he said, laughing.

And Ellen Paige was mine.

"Are you new here?" I asked him.

"Yup, just moved here three weeks ago."

That explains why I've never seen him before.

"Do you read…John Green?"

"_Looking for Alaska_'s really great. And…is that a Glamour Kills jacket?"

I already knew I was blushing so much, and not because of the cold. "Yeah."

"Well it really was nice meeting you, Suzuki-san," he said. "See you soon at the nursing home, eh?"

Before I could even answer he had already ran off, the image of his dazzling smile still imprinted in my mind.

* * *

Over the next few days I found myself spending more and more time with Shimizu-kun. Ayu didn't really mind when he'd tag along when we were together. In fact, she already liked him.

_Kid's real cool, _she had told me. Then with a nudge, she added, _Maybe you should let him ask you out! _

Well that was it for me that day. But today, two weeks after I met him, I already decided I'd introduce him to my grandfather since we came to the nursing home together every time since then anyway. I haven't met his grandfather yet either, so we both agreed that we'd meet up with our grandparents at the recreational center as soon as we got there.

When we did get there, I dragged my grandfather who was wheeling my grandmother in her chair all the way to the rec center. There we were soon met by Shimizu- kun standing beside a jolly-looking senior with slicked-back sandy blond hair.

Upon seeing us, the blond-haired man, who I presumed to be Shimizu-kun's grandfather, looked like he did a double-take. "_No way! _Natsume?"

My grandfather also stopped, mildly surprised. He raised his eyebrow. "_Yome? _No shit."

And I guessed life just really fell into place like that for me.

—

Apparently our grandparents were old childhood buddies. And I mean, _all_ our grandparents. And apparently Shimizu-kun's grandfather was terrified of Ayu's grandmother. Yome-jii seemed alright, cracking jokes all the way. Ruka-jii and my grandfather seemed to be fond of him. They punched him in the arm a lot. But I bet if my grandmother were still well, she'd be _really_ fond of him too because he was towards her despite her condition.

We all had another dinner last Saturday night, and so far everything was going well. But then Ayu had to bring up the spring dance and suddenly I found Shimizu-kun and I being badgered mercilessly by our parents that we should both go together, since we already spent a lot of time with each other as is. My grandfather told me he didn't like the idea of "Koko's boy" going out with any granddaughter of his, even though I knew well that any boy who was able to keep straight As in Math and was still a looker was respectable enough to him.

But we weren't exactly going out. Unless you would count trips to the book store and listening to albums at the record shop and eating frozen yogurt together as dates, then you'd be mistaken. We just shared a lot of common interests, that's all. And I didn't really _like_ like him.

I don't know.

* * *

A week later, I asked Ayu to come over. I really did want to spend time with her again. She would always say she didn't mind me spending more time with Shimzu-kun nowadays. But when we caught gazes during the times Shimizu-kun and I talked about video games and the like over lunch, it was that sad look in her eyes that told me otherwise.

What was I thinking, though? How could I have been so stupid to even have Ayu drive over when it was pouring hard outside? Only one thing came to mind when we got that phone call.

It was my fault my best friend got into an accident along the way. Entirely mine.

As we all drove to the hospital, all I could think about was how I even allowed myself to let Ayu out into this rain. Other than that, no other thought or emotion even crossed me. I was already numb by the time we got to the hospital. I honestly didn't mind if Ayu wouldn't forgive me anymore after this — or have her parents plus Daisuke and her grandparents do so either, for that matter. The doctor in the white coat that came out of the ER told Ayu's parents who told my parents who told me that Ayu's accident was nothing fatal so far.

God knew I couldn't even bear the thought of it becoming fatal.

The last thing I remember was still breaking down despite the news, in the middle of the waiting room, crying in my pajamas.

* * *

Waiting is a hard thing.

Tonight, Ayu's supposed to come back from her stay in the hospital. I had already told my grandfather I wouldn't be coming over. I knew all he'd say if I visited were the words _"That girl would be alright" _and _"She'd forgive you. It wasn't your fault"._ I only had hope in the former and anyway I hated myself for not wanting to visit him just because he kept saying what everyone else was. But I knew they were trying their best for me. Ayu's parents and grandparents and my parents and my grandfather and Daisuke.

"You know she'd be alright."

And even Shimizu-kun.

"You know I hope she'd be," I replied, not looking up. The bench I was sitting on was cold, but with him beside me it felt a little warmer.

"Why didn't you visit her with me like we agreed to last Saturday?" Shimizu-kun's voice was sad.

"I… I was scared." I shivered and just like that I immediately felt him moving just a bit closer.

"Why?"

"I was scared to see her in that condition. To see the possibilities and opportunities that I destroyed for her," I said. Then not to my surprise, I was already in tears as I looked up at him. "Ayu wanted to be a dancer!"

Shimizu-kun readily caught me in his arms as I fell into them.

"I w-was scared t-to see how I-I destroyed h-her dreams for her. I still a-am."

It felt like such a long time until Shimizu-kun spoke again. But all the while he still held me like he was the only thing that kept me from falling apart. "So maybe Mayagi-san wouldn't be able to dance again and maybe she wouldn't be able to ride her scooter anymore — but does that mean she wouldn't be able to paint beautiful pictures anymore? Or that she couldn't wheel down the hallways at top speed when she's going to be late for a class?"

That struck me. Hard. So I shook my head. It was all true.

He continued, "And we have therapy right? Mayagi-san will have hers and I have mine and you have yours. Yeah?"

And maybe what he just said proved to be enough for me. That maybe Ayu could still paint her grandmother's portrait for her birthday and I could take her for a wheelchair race with Kazuya-jii, a crippled resident of the nursing home. And someday when we were to graduate from this school and eventually from our dream college I would be there for her on both occasions, clapping and cheering and screaming as she gave the valedictorian speech, standing tall and proud.

"Yeah."

—

I met Ayu the night she came home. Upon seeing me she called out to me and told me to come over so that she could give me a hug. She told me she really missed me. I apologized but she said it was her own fault for being so reckless. But I believed she just forgave me all too quickly, proving just how good of a person she just really was.

So eventually we all went to the dance. Ayu, lovely in a silver dress, went in her wheelchair with the same boy her brother saw ask her out, even despite her past remarks of how ridiculous it just all was. Turns out he was pretty ok. I already liked him.

As for me, I went in a blue dress my mom and _ojii-chan_ picked out for me, to my surprise. Shimizu-kun said I looked really beautiful in it as we drove together to the square. I told him he looked very handsome too. We both brought our cameras and together took pictures of the dance.

It was on that night when we danced together for the first time when we were done taking pictures. And we all sucked air out of some helium balloons and talked and laughed like really high chipmunks for about an hour. And when he told me I could call him Yukito and I told him he could call me Keiko back. And when we both chastely shared our first kiss together.

It was a nice night.

* * *

Thinking back, there have been a lot of things that have given me hope over the past few years.

Such as Ayu with her perseverance and spirit that had brought her to the valedictorian stand on both graduations — in crutches and a leg brace, at least. Then another; Yukito, the guy who had been cheering with me and riding alongside me in his scooter on the way to the nursing home every time and bringing me soup to my dorm when I got sick and many more things.

And finally, the man who had made me see through all those things and believe in them — the one who proved to me that you standing by a person for so long is indeed possible. My grandfather, the husband who loved his wife—not enough but _so much_—that he moved into a nursing home, even after she suffered a stroke and was fully paralyzed since then, in fear that she will feel alone.

Undoubtedly, those are the things that really did give me hope.

* * *

_It wasn't long before the same boy I had accidentally exchanged glasses and talked about George Orwell with ten years ago stood with me at the aisle._

_We got married back in our hometown. Everyone was still there to witness it — even book-snatching Takumi and hippie-teasing Furugawa. Then my ojii-chan, who gave me away just before my father officially did. _

_Shortly after that though, my grandfather was unexpectedly the first one to say goodbye. Months later, my grandmother passed away and joined him. _

_But as I looked up at the night sky the evening she died, I thought of how they were probably together again — laughing and talking and holding hands under their own Sakura tree in heaven, like they used to._

_And at most, that gave me hope._

* * *

That was relatively long, wasn't it? And a bit random and skippy too. Was it too cliché though? Well at least I finally finished it. Now onto other put-off projects yay~ And if ever you guys made it up to here without getting bored and whatnot, congratulations and thanks again. And just a bit of info: This can be considered as an alternate ending opposite to _Picture Perfect_ so yeah, it's nice to get a hang of the things that go around in my stories.

_Review? :)_


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